It Would be 'Unfair' To Say Verstappen Had An Easy Season Says Leclerc
F1Tuesday, 19 December 2023 at 07:00
Updated at Saturday, 23 December 2023 at 15:04
Charles Leclerc disagreed that the 2023 season would be an easy season for Max Verstappen despite the impressive results that suggest so.
Max Verstappen finished the 2023 season 290 points ahead of the second driver in the Championship and won 19 out of 22 races this season.
Looking at the stats, Verstappen's haters complain the Dutchman had it easy this year with such a superb car. However, there was another Red Bull F1 driver with the same car that did not perform well.
It was Sergio Perez who was second in the Championship, and his teammate gapped him by 290 in the equal machinery. The puzzling thing is we know the Mexican's qualities, and we know he is an experienced driver used to delivering consistent results.
Despite that, Verstappen made him seem like an inexperienced rookie with his incredible performances. The Dutchman had the fastest car on the grid, but conditions were not always in his favor, and he still made the most of them.
It doesn't matter whether it was wild weather during the Dutch Grand Prix, where he broke a record for the most pit stops while winning the race, or the super hot and challenging race in Qatar, the triple World Champion was almost always on the top step of the podium.
One of the few people that were able to put up a challenge to the flawless Dutchman in 2023, Charles Leclerc, suggested it would be unfair to assert it was an easy season for the Red Bull driver.
"That would be very unfair. Of course he's in a comfortable position today, but he had to put in a lot of work to get there."
Monegasque also pointed to the fact that Verstappen worked with Red Bull for multiple seasons preceding 2022 and 2023, and it was based on his feedback that Red Bull built the RB19 (2023 Red Bull's car).
"And they've simply done a good job to get to where they are now. I respect that. Now we have to do an equally good job to catch up with them."
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